Breakdown of Svjetsko prvenstvo u atletici održava se svake druge godine.
u
in, into
godina
year
svaki
every, each
drugi
other, different
održavati se
to take place (imperfective)
svjetski
world (adjective)
prvenstvo
championship
atletika
athletics
Questions & Answers about Svjetsko prvenstvo u atletici održava se svake druge godine.
Why is the phrase svake druge godine in the genitive case?
In Croatian, recurring time expressions that include an adjective, pronoun, or ordinal number usually take the genitive case to answer the question 'how often?'. Here, the nominative svaka druga godina (every second year) becomes the genitive svake druge godine.
Does druge literally translate to 'second' or 'other' here?
It literally means 'second'. While in English we often say 'every other year', Croatian uses the ordinal number drugi (second) to express this alternating frequency. You are literally saying 'every second year'.
Why does the word atletika change to atletici?
It is in the locative case because it follows the preposition u (in). When feminine nouns ending in -ka, -ga, or -ha are put into the dative or locative case, the final consonant changes (k becomes c). This sound change is called sibilarization.
Why do we need the reflexive pronoun se with održava?
The base verb održavati means 'to hold' or 'to organize' (like holding an event). Adding the reflexive pronoun se gives it a passive meaning, translating to 'is held' or 'takes place'. Without se, you would be saying the championship is holding something else.
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